Shocking
by weirdgirl42
Summary: Fourth in the "Waiting" Series. Read "Waiting" and "Learning" first. It's Booth's turn to tell some secrets.


_Part three in what I am now calling the "Waiting Series." You should probably read both Waiting and Learning before reading this. Enjoy!_

**Shocking**

"You think I forgot, don't you?"

Booth and Brennan lay together on a lounge chair on their hotel balcony. The sun had set an hour ago but it was summer in Hawaii so it was still plenty warm. Warm enough for him to be clad in only shorts and for her to be wearing only underwear and his shirt. Booth looked down at his partner who was lying with her head on his bare chest. It seemed to be one of her favorite places to be, wrapped in his arms with her head over his heart. Never in a million years would he have predicted that she would be the cuddler in their relationship, but it thrilled him nonetheless.

"Forget what?" he asked.

"That it's your turn for secrets tonight."

Booth groaned good-naturedly. The previous night, Brennan had revealed to him that she had been raped by a foster father when she was fifteen. She also told him about her college boyfriend and the childhood stuffed animal she still took everywhere with her. He had agreed that tonight would be his turn.

"You already know my biggest secret," he said softly.

Brennan felt a slight pull at her insides. She knew that she was the only one who was aware of the full extent of his childhood abuse, besides Jared who knew all too well. She gently traced her hand over the scar on his torso, left by a broken bottle and a drunk father. He covered her hand with his and squeezed it.

"How about you ask me three questions and I have to answer. Three for three."

"I can live with that," she said.

Booth smiled at the look of concentration that came over her face. He thought it was adorable. He wrapped his arm around her, pushing the hem of the oversized FBI shirt she wore up slightly so he could rub small circles on her bare stomach.

"Now you're trying to distract me."

"Bones I'm always trying to distract you."

"Luckily for me, I have above average concentration skills."

"Don't I know it," he muttered.

Brennan rolled her eyes. "Okay first question."

"Lay it on me."

"When did you first feel something other than friendship for me?"

Booth paused for a moment before replying, "Who says I feel anything other than friendship for you?"

She smacked his stomach playfully. "That is so not what you were saying in bed last night. Or this morning. Or in the water this afternoon."

He smiled and closed his eyes, "Oh yeah, the water was nice. Even if we lost my snorkeling mask."

"Booth, focus."

"Right." He paused against. "There's really two answers to this question Bones. First there was that night in your apartment, right before I got blown up. When we were singing and dancing and it was the first time I had ever really seen you be…goofy. I looked at you and realized that you were quickly becoming the best friend I'd ever had. And then when you called me from New Orleans and all I knew was that you were hurt and couldn't remember what had happened, it was like my heart stopped. And I knew that what I felt for you wasn't just friendship."

She digested his words for a moment. "It took me longer," she admitted. "It wasn't until that day in McVicar's barn. You told me you knew who I was and I realized…you were the first person since my parents disappeared who could say that honestly. And I knew that you were the most important person in my life."

Reaching down, he curled a finger under her chin and tilted her face up. He kissed her cheeks and her eyes before touching his lips briefly to hers. "I thought I was the one telling secrets tonight," he teased with a smile.

"Right," Brennan said, laying her head back down on his chest. "Second question. What is your cop nickname?"

"Oh no. No way."

"Booth! You said anything."

"Fine. But you cannot tell anyone."

"I assumed that discretion was a part of the secret telling game."

Booth ran a hand over his face. "Shakespeare," he said.

"What?"

"Shakespeare," he repeated, a little more loudly. "They call me Shakespeare. It started when I was a Ranger and then just continued."

"Why?"

Booth sighed. "Because when I was a Ranger I was also getting my Master's in English literature."

Brennan raised her head and looked at him in shock. "You have a Master's in English literature?"

"Yup. Got halfway through my doctorate before I decided I wanted to join the FBI instead of be a professor."

"How have you never told me this?"

He shrugged. "It hasn't ever been relevant. Anyway, back when I was a Ranger they started calling me Shakespeare because one night, in Bosnia, I got drunk and recited the St. Crispin's Day speech from _Henry V_, which at the time was my favorite of the plays."

"What's your favorite now?"

"_Much Ado About Nothing._"

"How come?"

She was propped up on her side, her face hovering just above his. He reached up and brushed a strand of hair away from her eyes and quoted softly, "'I do love nothing in the world so well as you. Is not that strange?' Beatrice and Benedict. They remind me of us."

Brennan smiled. "They are a little like us aren't they?"

"Bickering as foreplay? Oh yeah. Totally us."

"Of course I'm really much more like Benedict who doesn't believe in marriage or monogamy."

"And I supposed that makes me the girl?" Booth asked.

"Yes I supposed it does."

Booth shook his head in mock-disgust. Cupping her cheek he said, "But remember in the play, Benedict comes around on the whole monogamy and marriage thing."

"Actually," Brennan argued, "considering the time period and Benedict's class, it's likely he would have had sexual relationships with servants and other lower class women, even while married."

"You know what Bones, thanks for killing the romance of the play."

Brennan grinned, but then her face turned more serious. "Marriage is a conversation for another day a long time from now," she told him. "But as for monogamy. You're it for me Seeley. I'm not looking for anything else. I don't need anything else."

His eyes darkened and she recognized the almost primal look. "If you keep saying my first name like that," he told her, "you're not going to have a chance to ask the third question."

She laughed as she settled back against him. "I don't have a third question," she said. "You have to think of something. Something no one else knows."

Booth was silent for a several minutes, debating with himself. "Okay if I tell you this," he began at last, "you absolutely, under no circumstances, are allowed to tell Wendell or Hodgins or Sweets…or Zach. And if you tell Angela, she has to make the same promise.

"I won't tell anyone Booth."

He sighed and raised his eyes, focusing on the mass of stars above them. "After our first year being partners, I bought an anatomy book and memorized all the bones."

If Booth's second secret had shocked her, there were no words to describe her feelings at this admission. "So every time you claim to have no idea what we're talking about…"

"I probably understand two-thirds of what you say," Booth finished. "I mean a lot of the science is still gibberish but I get the bone stuff to a certain extent."

"I can't believe you did that."

"Are you mad?"

"No, not mad. Just, shocked really."

"I figured it would help me do my job better. And," he felt his face redden slightly, "it's something that's important to you. It's a part of who you are. And I wanted to understand that better."

"Technically bones are a part of who everyone is."

"You know what I mean."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Booth shrugged. "I like when you explain things to me," he admitted. "And I wanted Hodgins and Zach and now Wendell's perceptions of me to stay the way they are."

"You think that if they see you as a squint instead of the FBI agent they won't give you the same kind of deference when it comes to leadership and intuition."

"Something like that, yeah."

"I can understand that." She lifted herself up and grinned wickedly. "So," she said as she settled her body over his. "If I kiss you here…" she kissed his jaw.

"Mandible," he whispered.

"And here?" She kissed along his collarbone.

"Clavicle."

Brennan made her way down his body as he correctly named each bone she gave attention to, though the words became more like pants, until she reached his feet. Slowly she massaged the soles and arches, knowing that his torture injuries still gave him pain even that many years later. Then she gently kissed the instep. "And this?" she asked.

"Navicular," he breathed.

She smiled and crawled back up his body. "You learned all the bones," she said, her voice heavy with emotion.

"Yes."

She kissed him deeply. "You, Seeley Booth, are the best man I have ever known."

"What did I say about saying my first name?"

"You're going to have to get used to it…Seeley."

Booth groaned, "That's it. We're going to bed. Now."

Brennan laughed and stood up, leading him into their room. "Wouldn't miss it for the world Booth."

**The End**

_Thanks for reading. Please review…it's like crack to me._


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